Following the Las Vegas shooting in 2017, President Donald Trump
called on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to ban
a firearm accessory that is commonly referred to as a “bumpstock”.
Although ATF had issued written rulings for many years that these
accessories did not convert a semi-automatic firearm in to a machinegun,
following this incident the ATF reversed course and issued a ruling
that these devices do convert semi-automatic firearms into machineguns.
Congress, however, has not changed the definition of a machinegun
since the term was put in the National Firearms Act in 1934.
In
this case, the question at the heart of this case concerns the meaning
of the term “machinegun,” as defined by Congress in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b).
In 2018, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued
a set of regulations that reinterpreted “machinegun” more expansively
than ever before to prohibit, for the first time, accessories known as
non-mechanical bump stocks. When that ruling was challenged across the
nation in the federal courts, the district and appellate courts often
upheld the Rule. Thus, the questions presented to the Supreme Court in
the petition are:
(1) Whether the definition of “machinegun” in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) includes non-mechanical bump stocks.
(2)
If the definition of “machinegun” in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) is ambiguous,
whether that ambiguity should be construed against the Government.
In
the GOA/TFA amicus brief, we argue that the Congressional definition of
a machinegun precludes the classification of bumpstocks as a machinegun
and, consequently, that the ATF’s Rule is unconstitutional and in
conflict with the statutory language. Further, we point out that the
law in the Sixth Circuit (which includes Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and
Michigan) is presently that the ATF’s bumpstock rule is unenforceable.
Tennessee
Firearms Association realizes that it is unfortunately necessary to
expend the funds to bring these types of lawsuits and to engage in
appellate advocacy because the state of Tennessee is simply not
zealously defending our constitutional rights (particularly when we have
a governor that is attacking them with proposed Red Flag laws).
Further, such litigation is necessary because even when the Republicans
control Congress, they repeatedly have failed to constrain the ATF,
eliminate its funding or simply apply the Second Amendment’s “shall not
be infringed” mandate and eliminate any authority of any federal agency
to engage in the regulation of the rights of Americans to purchase, own,
possess, make, use, sell or practice with firearms.
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